74 Facts About Trevor Horn

Trevor Charles Horn was born on 15 July 1949 and is an English record producer and musician.

Trevor Horn gained fame in 1979 as a member of the Buggles, who achieved a hit single with "Video Killed the Radio Star".

Trevor Horn was invited to join the progressive rock band Yes, becoming their lead singer.

In 1981, Trevor Horn became a full-time producer, working on successful songs and albums for acts including Yes, Dollar, ABC, Malcolm McLaren, Grace Jones and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Trevor Horn has performed with the supergroup Producers, later known as the Trevor Horn Band, since 2006.

Trevor Horn's awards include Brit Awards for Best British Producer in 1983,1985, and 1992, a 1995 Grammy Award for Seal's song "Kiss from a Rose", and a 2010 Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.

Trevor Charles Horn was born on 15 July 1949 to John and Elizabeth Horn in Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham, England, and grew up in Durham City.

Trevor Horn's father was a maintenance engineer at the neighbouring dairy and a professional musician who played the double bass in the Joe Clarke Big Band during the week.

At around eight years of age, Trevor Horn took up the double bass and was taught the basics by his father, including the concept of playing triads.

Trevor Horn taught himself the bass guitar and became confident in sight-reading music, using guide books and practising on his father's four-string guitar in the spare room of the house.

At school Trevor Horn was given a recorder which he picked up with little effort as he already had music knowledge, and performed in the local youth orchestra.

Trevor Horn's interests turned to contemporary rock acts such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan.

At 14, Trevor Horn played electric guitar in his first group, the Outer Limits, named after the 1963 television series, playing mainly covers by the Kinks.

Trevor Horn went on to pursue a "succession of day jobs", including one at a rubber company.

Trevor Horn put on a Bob Dylan imitation act for two nights a week "with a harmonica around my neck", and played the bass at odd gigs.

Trevor Horn's parents pleaded with him to try one more job, but three months into his role as a progress chaser in a plastic bag factory, he was fired.

Trevor Horn received airplay on BBC Radio Leicester, performing self-written songs on a guitar.

At 21, Trevor Horn relocated to London and took up work by playing in a band which involved re-recording top 20 songs for BBC radio due to the needle time restrictions then in place.

Trevor Horn joined the Canterbury Tales, a group based in Margate, and spent time in Denmark where he ended up broke.

Trevor Horn's mother sent him money for his return journey.

Trevor Horn worked as a session musician for rock groups and jingles.

At 24, Trevor Horn began work in Leicester, where he had a nightly gig playing bass at a nightclub and helped construct a recording studio.

Trevor Horn produced songs for local artists, including a song for Leicester City FC.

Trevor Horn played bass in Nick North and Northern Lights, a cabaret and covers band, which featured the keyboardist Geoff Downes and the singer Tina Charles.

Trevor Horn formed Tracks, a jazz fusion band inspired by Weather Report and Herbie Hancock, with the future Shakatak drummer Roger Odell, before he left to play in Charles's backing band.

Also in the band were the keyboardist Geoffrey Downes and the guitarist Bruce Woolley, both of whom Trevor Horn later worked with in the band the Buggles.

From 1977 to 1979, Trevor Horn worked on various singles as a songwriter, producer, or orchestra director, but without profit.

Trevor Horn wrote "Boot Boot Woman", the B-side to the Boogatti single "Come Back Marianne".

In 1978, Trevor Horn wrote, sang, and produced "Caribbean Air Control" under the pseudonym Big A, which features Trevor Horn pictured as a pilot on the front sleeve.

Trevor Horn achieved his first production hit when "Monkey Chop" by Dan-I reached No 30 on the UK Singles Chart in 1979.

In 1980, Trevor Horn married the music executive Jill Sinclair, who became his manager.

Trevor Horn assembled studio equipment, including a Roland TR-808 drum machine, a sequencer, a Minimoog synthesiser and Simmons electronic drums.

In 1981, Trevor Horn completed a second Buggles album, Adventures in Modern Recording, largely on his own following Downes's decision to form Asia.

Trevor Horn did not complete the ensuing Dollar Album however and the production of the remaining tracks was attributed to Dollar themselves.

Trevor Horn next produced The Lexicon of Love by ABC, working with Anne Dudley for the string arrangements.

Trevor Horn regretted the decision, and he later learnt that U2 had declined to work with him as they were concerned he would split the band.

Trevor Horn won the 1983 Brit Award for British Producer of the Year, thanks to his work on the album.

The first act they signed was Frankie Goes to Hollywood, for whom Trevor Horn produced their successful debut album, Welcome to the Pleasuredome.

At this point, Trevor Horn was working with Foreigner in the US on their album Agent Provocateur.

Trevor Horn left the project to work on the followup Frankie Goes to Hollywood single "Two Tribes" and the group's debut album, which spawned two more hit singles "The Power of Love" and an edited version of the title track.

Trevor Horn worked with Yes again to produce their 1983 album 90125.

Trevor Horn persuaded them to record "Owner of a Lonely Heart", which they resisted, deeming it "too poppy".

Trevor Horn was receptive but said he would need at least six weeks, which would make it impossible to release by Christmas.

Trevor Horn produced another Yes album, Big Generator and co-produced the Simple Minds album Street Fighting Years with Steve Lipson.

In 1990, Trevor Horn produced the debut album by the English singer Seal.

Trevor Horn was pleased with the results and sold his PC equipment for an Apple Macintosh.

At this stage of his career, Trevor Horn had lost his enthusiasm for producing 12-inch mixes of songs, and he brought in other remixers to make them while concentrating on albums.

Trevor Horn co-wrote two songs with Terry Reid for his 1991 album The Driver, and wrote "The Shape of Things to Come" for the 1995 Cher album It's a Man's World.

Trevor Horn co-produced Mike Oldfield's 1992 album Tubular Bells II alongside Oldfield and Tom Newman.

Trevor Horn co-wrote "Everybody Up", the theme song to the comedy series The Glam Metal Detectives broadcast on BBC2 in 1995.

In 1995, Trevor Horn produced "The Carpet Crawlers 1999", a rerecording of "The Carpet Crawlers" by Genesis, which featured vocals from their former singers, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins.

In 1996, Trevor Horn produced the multi-platinum album Wildest Dreams by Tina Turner.

Trevor Horn rerecorded the instruments, as he did not have access to the original multitracks.

Trevor Horn co-wrote "Pass the Flame" in collaboration with Lol Creme and co-wrote the title track from Lisa Stansfield's 2004 album The Moment.

Trevor Horn co-wrote "Sound the Bugle", performed by Bryan Adams and featured on the Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron soundtrack and produced 3 tracks of Stilelibero Estilolibre by Eros Ramazzotti, released on 29 May 2001.

Trevor Horn produced the 2003 Belle and Sebastian album Dear Catastrophe Waitress.

Trevor Horn, known for using electronic equipment to transform music, was seen as a surprising choice for Belle and Sebastian, who were described by the Guardian as "the last living purveyors of arts-and-crafts indie values".

In 2006, Trevor Horn co-formed the supergroup the Producers, with the singer Lol Creme, the producer Steve Lipson, the drummer Ash Soan and the singer-songwriter Chris Braide.

Trevor Horn produced the ninth album by the synth-pop duo the Pet Shop Boys, Fundamental, released in May 2006.

Trevor Horn produced an album version of the event, Concrete, released on 23 October 2006.

Trevor Horn produced Captain's debut album, This is Hazelville, released in late 2006.

Trevor Horn has worked with John Legend and David Jordan.

In 2009, Trevor Horn produced Reality Killed the Video Star, the eighth album by Robbie Williams.

Trevor Horn returned to work with Yes again, producing their new album from October 2010.

In 2017, Trevor Horn wrote the music for the Stan Lee co-produced anime The Reflection, the soundtrack being released as the first album under Trevor Horn's name.

Trevor Horn remixed 2011's Fly From Here with Yes, adding new vocals and editing parts.

Trevor Horn has been working on musicals, including one called "The Robot Sings".

In November 2018, Trevor Horn performed a one-off concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

Trevor Horn joined Seal's 2023 tour, playing bass in Seal's band and reviving the Buggles as an opening act.

In December 2023, Trevor Horn released Echoes: Ancient and Modern, another album of covers with guest singers.

Trevor Horn met Jill Sinclair, a former mathematics teacher, in 1977.

Trevor Horn was in the band Sam and the Womp and frequently DJs around London.

Trevor Horn is not Jewish, but he has attended synagogue with his children, who were raised in his wife's faith.

Trevor Horn died of cancer on 22 March 2014, aged 61.